Without You, Conrad ☀︎︎

Love Fest

When Aunt Julia told everyone the house was sold, Conrad felt everything slip away from him. This was it. This was how he was going to lose everything.

"It's sold?" Conrad asked. "You- you sold this house in the last twelve hours?"

"Yes," Julia replied. "To a- a lovely family with three children and some kind of a poodle mix."

"Well, it can't just be over," said Jeremiah. "It is. Uh, I'm gonna need your keys, please," said Julia.

Conrad looked back at Belly and Jeremiah and handed them over. "I'll bet you're really enjoying this."

"Mom, don't do this," said Skye. Julia looked at her child with annoyance. "Skye, really? I told you two that I was selling the house. You just refused to believe it. And I'm not enjoying it, but I will admit that I'm relieved it's finally over. Come on, Skye. Excuse me."

Conrad sighed and led the others inside for their last day at the summer house. He felt defeated, diminished, and hopeless.

"Okay, so I know things aren't going so great right now but it's always the darkest before the dawn, right?" said Jeremiah. "Yeah, not this time," said Conrad.

"Um," Skye said, walking in, "I'm- I'm sorry. I- I tried to get her to all off the deal."

"It's not on you, Skye," Conrad said, flipping a coin over and over. "I know, but she's my mom, so I would get if you guys were angry with me, too. I just can't deal with her right now."

"No one's mad at you, Skye," Jeremiah said, pulling them in for a hug.

"So, what? We're supposed to go home now?" Steven asked. "Yeah," said Conrad. "It's over."

"No," Belly fought. Conrad looked over to see his girl fighting harder than anyone else. "Our- our last memory here can't be this. Everyone miserable and defeated. I mean, this place deserves a better goodbye than that."

"Like what?" asked Conrad. Belly looked at him before saying, "My mom came to the beach house with Susannah for the first time after her dad died. And it was supposed to be just the two of them, but Susannah hated how empty the house felt, so she decided to throw a huge party. Everyone was dancing and drinking, and they went swimming at midnight. And Susannah said it was like Gatsby or something."

"Hmmm," Conrad said with a smile spreading across his lips. "So I say that we throw a party too," Belly said, looking directly at him with the biggest smile.

"I'm in," said Jeremiah. "Me too," Taylor added. "Me three," said Skye. "Oh, I love this for us," Cam said with a priceless smile. Everyone laughed a little. Steven looked at Conrad and asked, "You in?"

Conrad looked from the ground to Belly and slightly smiling before he said, "I think it's exactly what my mom would have wanted. She'd love it."

"Great, okay," said Belly, "everybody, shower, power nap, and then I'm putting you to work." Everyone nodded in agreement.

I was about to leave the kitchen after getting a water when Steven asked, "You good?" I nodded. "Yeah." He definitely didn't take that as an answer. "Oh. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. For real, though. Look, I know you've got a lot on your plate. All right, the house, Stanford..."

I shook my head as I opened the lid to the water. "I already told you, I'm not going to Stanford."

"I'm just saying," said Steven, I'm all for you embracing your zen." I couldn't help but smile, trying to take him seriously. "Embracing my zen?"

"Yeah," said Steven. "Where'd you get that? Is that one of your girl Taylor's mantras?" I asked with a smirk. "Taylor's not my girl," Steven said defensively. Yeah... sleeping with your arm around someone who's 'not your girl.' Real sly, Steven.